Category Archives: Poaching

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WildAid has released a statement concerning California AB 96, the bill set to toughen up California’s ivory ban.

I hope we will see other states follow, but it would be great to see similar legislation at the federal level.

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The bill introduced today by California Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins would close loopholes that have made if difficult, if not nearly impossible, to enforce California’s 40-year-old ban on ivory.

For decades, criminals have used the legal trade of ivory imported prior to 1977 in order to launder illegal ivory from Africa, where 33,000 elephants are killed for their tusks every year. With the passage of this bill, California would join New York and New Jersey in closing this loophole and adopting stiffer criminal and civil penalties on the sale of ivory.

ABOUT WILDAID
WildAid is the only organization to focus on reducing the demand for wildlife products. WildAid works with hundreds of Asian and Western political figures, celebrities and business leaders, including the Duke of Cambridge, Yao Ming, Jackie Chan, Edward Norton and Sir Richard Branson, to dissuade people from purchasing endangered wildlife products. WildAid’s public service messages and educational initiatives reach hundreds of millions of people per week in China alone through donated media space. “When the buying stops, the killing can too.”

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SACRAMENTO–In response to the global wildlife crisis in which an average of 96 elephants are being slaughtered daily for their ivory in Africa, Assembly Speaker Toni G. Atkins today introduced AB 96 to close loopholes that prevent the effective enforcement of existing California law prohibiting the sale of ivory. Senator Ricardo Lara is the Principal Co-author of the bill.

“The slaughter of elephants for their tusks and rhinos for their horns is as senseless as it is cruel,” said Speaker Atkins (D-San Diego). “California recognized that and enacted a law almost 40 years ago to end the ivory trade here, but that law needs strengthening in order to be effective. AB 96 closes the loophole that allows the illegal ivory trade to continue to flourish and adds real enforcement teeth to the law so California can do our part to end the slaughter.”

“Elephants and rhinos are being slaughtered and mutilated at an unprecedented rate and driven to extinction due to demand for their tusks and horns,” said Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens). “If we are serious about protecting endangered species and ensuring that they will be here for future generations to appreciate, California must take a decisive step in stopping, once and for all, the sale or trade of ivory and rhinos horns.”

International, federal and state laws are all being strengthened to protect iconic species from cruelty and extinction. The states of New York and New Jersey recently enacted strong prohibitions on intra-state ivory and rhino-horn commerce and the federal government has proposed strengthened ivory trade and import regulations.

In a new report commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Elephant Ivory Trafficking in California, USA, the investigator examined more than 1,250 ivory items offered for sale by 107 vendors in Los Angeles and San Francisco. He found that up to 90% of the ivory for sale in Los Angeles and approximately 80% in San Francisco was likely illegal under California law—much of it advertised as antiques and/or crafted to look older so it would appear legal, though the pieces were more likely from recently-killed elephants. Additionally, the incidence of what appears to be ivory of recent manufacture roughly doubled from approximately 25% in 2006 to about 50% in 2014.

AB 96 would prohibit a person from purchasing, selling, offering for sale, possessing with intent to sell, or importing with intent to sell elephant ivory or rhinoceros horn, except as specified under very limited educational and scientific circumstances, and would make this prohibition enforceable by the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The bill would make a violation of this provision a misdemeanor subject to specified graduated criminal penalties. In addition to the specified criminal penalties, the bill would authorize the department to impose a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for a violation of this provision or any rule, regulation, or order adopted pursuant to this provision.

AB 96 is supported by a host of community, environmental, and animal protection groups including the NRDC, The Humane Society of the United States/Humane Society International, Wildlife Conservation Society, California Zoo & Aquarium Association, Oakland Zoo, and the Asian Pacific Alliance for Wildlife & Sustainability. Additionally, nearly a dozen state lawmakers including wildlife policy committee chairs in both the Assembly and the Senate have already signed on as co-authors of AB 96.

The provisions of AB 96 would become operative on July 1, 2016.

What others are saying:

“We are grateful to Speaker Atkins and Senator Lara for pursuing closure of the loophole in California’s decades-old ivory ban that has allowed this pernicious trade to flourish in our state,” said Jennifer Fearing, a consultant with The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International. “Californians don’t support trade here in products that put elephants and rhinos in jeopardy of cruelty and extinction.”

“It’s shocking how much ivory is being sold in California. Up to 90% of the ivory being sold in Los Angeles and 80% in San Francisco is likely illegal, according to an independent study commissioned by NRDC, with much of it being altered to look older so that it will appear legal,” said Elly Pepper, an NRDC wildlife advocate. “Too much ivory is slipping through the cracks. It’s time for California to do more to protect the lives of elephants, and we are thrilled to see the California legislature take this huge step.”

Said John Calvelli, WCS Executive Vice President for Public Affairs and Director of the 96 Elephants campaign: “The Wildlife Conservation Society and the 96 Elephants campaign praises Speaker Atkins and Senator Lara for their leadership in moving toward passing a statewide ban on ivory. We are driving these magnificent animals toward extinction across Africa unless we stop the killing of an estimated 96 elephants each day, stop the trafficking and stop the demand for ivory. As long as demand for ivory remains high and enforcement efforts are low, the legal trade will continue to serve as a front for criminal syndicates. A California ban on ivory sales is an important step forward in this global effort to save elephants.”

“Research shows that Asian Pacific Americans are among the strongest supporters of conservation and environmental protection. On behalf of Asian Pacific Americans everywhere, the Asian Pacific Alliance for Wildlife & Sustainability (APAWS) is proud to support Speaker Toni Atkins’ AB 96 to close down illegal ivory trafficking in California that contributes to the cruel global decimation of elephants and other precious wildlife,” stated Judy Ki, chair of APAWS.

The twisted claims that selling trophy hunts to kill rhinos will save rhinos are nothing more than excuses for individuals to gleefully show off their evidence that they’ve killed an endangered species.

The news about the auction held last January for the permit spread around the news and Internet sites. Hopefully, the negative blow back has helped to stall the permit from going through.

CNN’s update on the story notes the auction was sponsored by the Dallas Safari Club and that and the club and the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism claimed the funds raised would be donated to “conservation and anti-poaching efforts.”

A permit to transport the body parts – as so-called “trophies” – back to the United States. But the article reports some great news. Over 15,000 comments, opposing the permit, were received by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, within the 30-day comment period.

There are only an estimated 5,000 black rhinos left on the planet. Killing them to save them makes little sense. I know the claim is that only older members of the herd are selected for this sort of auction. And I noted the claim that they are no longer of value to the herd.

But these claims apparently come from people who actually put little value on the lives on animals. These rhinos are living, feeling animals who experience emotion and have the capacity to suffer.

And of course, the primary question to ask is this: If the mission is to save the rhinos, why not just donate the funds and travel there to photograph a rhino, rather than kill them?

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Wanted Poachers Try To Shake Pursuit Through Treacherous Ice Chase

Yesterday, at approximately 2300 hours AEDT, at 61˚ 32’ South, 075˚ 27’ East, the wanted poaching vessel, Thunder, attempted a hazardous escape from the Sea Shepherd ship, Bob Barker, by fleeing at speed through a field of pack-ice.

The Nigerian-flagged Thunder, which has been issued with and Interpol Purple Notice, and which is on the CCAMLR black-list of illegal unreported and unregulated (IUU) vessels due to its poaching activities, led Captain Peter Hammarstedt and his international crew of 28 volunteers on a three-hour long chase through the ice-field.

The Bob Barker was forced to break-through ice in order to maintain the hot pursuit. Captain Hammarstedt said, “At times the ice was almost impassable. I had to use my ship as a snow plough in order to break-through and continue chase.”

The incident comes two days after the Bob Barker intercepted the poaching vessel engaged in illegal fishing activities inside the CCAMLR area. Thunder is known to utilise gillnets – a method of fishing that has been outlawed by CCAMLR since 2004.

On locating the Thunder two days ago, Captain Hammarstedt notified Interpol, CCAMLR, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Fishing Management Authority of the vessel’s activities. As yet, there is been no response to these reports.

Captain Hammarstedt has called on the Australian government to assist with the arrest of the illegal vessel. He said, “We have caught these poachers in blatant violation of international fishing regulations. We have documented their poaching activities, we have reported them, and we are ready to hand them over to the authorities. It is not the responsibility of Sea Shepherd to uphold CCAMLR regulations, but in the absence of legal action from Australia, we remain the only sheriff in town.”

IUU (Illegal, Unregulated, Unreported) fishing of toothfish continues inside the CCAMLR region, despite the Commission’s efforts to eliminate this threat to the Antarctic ecosystem. Currently six operators, including Thunder, are known to be involved in IUU fishing of toothfish inside the area.

Operation Icefish is Sea Shepherd’s 11th Southern Ocean Defence Campaign, and the first to target IUU toothfish fishing operators in the waters of Antarctica.

Those who are buying products made from elephant tusks or rhino horns or any other threatened or endangered species are the root cause of the horrors of poaching.

And now we know that terrorists are funding their operations in part through poaching. So anyone who purchases ivory now or rhino horn products or any poached items have become promoters of terrorists.

Let’s go ahead and tell it like it is. Too many people in countries like China and Vietnam are buying these products in full support of the terrorists. And clueless people in the United States are supporting the horrors too. A 2008 study showed the US is the No. 2 market for ivory.

Are some people here in the US – supposedly the most advanced of nations – really that uneducated? Stop – You don’t need to tell me. I know … I know. It’s true.

It is pure evil in every way. Poaching is driving animals to extinction and killing innocent people in staggering numbers. And it is driven by clueless people who either wrongly believe rhino horns have medicinal value or are so vain and stupid that they value a trinket over the lives of innocent people and animals.

The Texas Tech cheerleader who drew a lot of attention recently after posing with animals she had killed on big-game trophy hunts, appeared recently at an outdoors show.

Recall that supporters of the woman used the excuses that killing endangered animals somehow helps to protect them. I guess if there isn’t a reasonable excuse for doing something wrong, people will try to fill the void with some sort of nonsense.

But now the nonsense has been taken to a new level, by the cheerleader’s father. In a CNN video, he says, “There’s never been an animal go extinct because of hunters. There’s been animals go extinct because of poachers.”

That is unbelievably, stunningly inaccurate. Just go to the Wikipedia link highlighted here and go from the 18th Century forward. Between hunting and habitat destruction, humans have been wiping out species for a long, long time. And hunting only becomes poaching when the hunting and habitat destruction reaches critical levels.

And the father’s statement is only made worse by the fact that if not for protections, such as those put into effect by the Endangered Species Act, even more animal species would have been wiped out by hunting. Take for example the Bald Eagle.

But it is important to note that this case also reflects on the state of journalism in the US. I have no problem with news outlets presenting statements from both sides within a story like this. But facts matter. What the dad said was grossly inaccurate. Journalists and news outlets have a responsibility to report facts.

Sure, present the opinions from both sides. But when a statement is made by either side that steps way beyond the scope of fact, the media should the take the extra step to report the facts. To let the extreme inaccuracy go is just lazy.

I am sick of reading quotes from trophy hunters who claim they are killing endangered species to save endangered species. And sometimes these people claim they’ve killed an endangered species to feed the starving people in the particular local region.

This is PROPAGANDA of the worst sort.

If anyone with the expendable income to travel to Africa or some other continent wants to help feed starving families, they can offer regular donations of food and water. That money will feed far more people than the gunned down animals would. And the money can go for fruits and vegetables as well.

The newest case in the media centers on Kendall Jones, a young woman who is clearly uninformed in matters of science, logic, endangered species and the suffering of animals.

She is quoted in a USA Today article as once writing, “Although I had many other opportunities to shoot animals I wanted to save it for the Big 5, so the first animal I ever shot was a White Rhino with a .416 Remington!!”

Rhinos are being wiped off the face of the Earth by poachers and trophy hunters. We may soon reach a point where children will grow up learning the species no longer exists. Killing rhinos and bragging about it is a horrible and inexcusable.

Some are claiming the proceeds from the sale of trophy-hunting packages goes to local villages and to conserve the very endangered species they are gunning down. This is off-the-charts idiotic.

If these people were truly concerned about saving endangered species, they would send the funds directly to the effort, as opposed to killing the animals for no other reason than to reach some sick goal of marking the animal off their kill list and staging a smiling photo op.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare submitted the following press release concerning a bill in New York to ban the sale of ivory and rhino horn:

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IFAW Statement on New York Ivory Ban: We Love New York

Washington, D.C. (June 23, 2014) – Jeffrey Flocken, North American Regional Director, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), issued the following statement regarding a bill passed last week by the New York state legislature which bans the sale and purchase of elephant and mammoth ivory and rhino horn:

“A big victory for endangered elephants and rhinos, as New York enacts a landmark law to ban the sale of ivory and rhino horn.

These bans are important tools for regulating, and, we hope, eventually ending the ivory and rhino horn trade. Every 15 minutes on average, an African elephant is slaughtered for its ivory tusks to support a mass consumer demand. Rhinos, which are also poached for their horns, are similarly threatened. The U.S. ranks as one of the largest ivory consumers in the world and New York serves as one its biggest entry points and markets.

Promising regulations are gathering momentum at the federal level. As one of the first states to pass such legislation, New York is carving a path for others to follow.

We love New York’s actions and congratulate and thank our coalition partners in encouraging the passage of these bills.”

Among the planet’s most evil elements are those who are killing endangered elephants and rhinos for their horns and tusks. I will never understand what goes through the minds of people who can torture innocent people and animals – sometimes for nothing more than a motive for profit.

There most certainly is a special, incredibly hot corner of hell waiting these individuals.